World’s largest telescope under construction

25 Jul, 2015

China is hoping to finish construction of the world’s largest radio telescope by 2016. The telescope is built upon a naturally-formed bowl-like valley in the southern part of Guizhou. The huge dish is actually hung over the ground supported by thousands of steel pillars and cables and has perimeter of about 1.6 km. The telescope’s reflector is 500 metres in diameter and made up of 4,450 panels. Each panel is an equilateral triangle with a side length of 11 metres. Scientist:

Having a more sensitive telescope, we can receive weaker and more distant radio messages. It will help us to search for intelligent life outside of the galaxy and explore the origins of the universe.